Monday, June 11, 2012

In association with NBC Sports group, Dial Global will once again serve as the exclusive radio home for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games from London. They are sparing no expense with the coverage.

John Tatuges and Kevin Kugler will produce a nightly recap show titled "Late Night in London." The recap will be broadcast from 9 PM- 11 PM with a new show every night beginning July 27 with the Opening Ceremonies and going all the way through the Closing Ceremonies (August 12).

Dial Global will also produce live play-by-play action in a limited capacity. Every USA men's basketball prelim game (July 29th (vs. France), July 31st (vs.
Tunisia), August 2nd (opponent TBD), August 4th (opponent TBD), August
6th (vs. Argentina), Team USA Men’s Quarterfinal: Wednesday, August 8th (if the U.S. advances to the medal round), Team USA Men’s Semifinal: Friday, August 10th (if the U.S. reaches the semifinal)*, *If Team USA loses in the semifinal round, Dial Global Sports will also
broadcast the Bronze Medal Game at 5:45 AM Eastern on Sunday 8/12/12) will be included in the Play-by-Play coverage. The gold medal games in both men's and women's basketball will also be done by Dial Global.

Dial Global won't focus solely on men's basketball. The men's and women's soccer championship games will be broadcast by Dial Global.

In terms of coverage, Dial Global will offer updates 3-times an hour throughout the day, and teams will also be covering gymnastics, swimming, and athletics for the Dial Global games coverage.

More details can be found in their announcement schedule at http://dialglobalsports.com/2012/06/the-summer-olympics-on-the-dial-global-radio-network/. Details on each announcer for Dial Global Sports can be found at http://dialglobalsports.com/olympic-announcers/.

In a joint announcement made today, NBC Sports Network and Dial Global Sports will team up to form the NBC Sports Radio Network. For most media fans, this is good news. Instead of having NBC Sports personnel like Cris Collinsworth, Michelle Beadle, Al Michaels, BobCostas, Tony Dungy, and many others appear once a week on ESPN Radio and other media groups, you will have a select group that will host daily radio shows. Groups like The Two Stews could very well be finding themselves with a national radio feed to broadcast on daily instead of doing every few months as guest hosts for Dan Patrick.

One of the big targets with this group is The Dan Patrick Show. Most people know The Dan Patrick Show isn't produced by Fox Sports. Yet it airs nationwide on Fox Sports Radio and on FSN. Dan and the Danettes may very easily be finding themselves with a new radio home with NBC Sports radio Network.

Perhaps the most interesting thing mentioned isn't about the shows. They specifically mention that NBC Sports radio network will carry a large amount of Dial Global Sports coverage. In some cases, like with the olympics, this is easy to understand since Dial Global Sports produces radio broadcasts for the Olympics thanks to a current contract with NBC Sports. This coverage could grow a lot more though.

Think about it. The NHL hasn't had a radio home since Westwood One dumped them back in 2006. Could it be inconceivable to see NBC Sports Radio Network doing play-by-play coverage of the NHL conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals? What about their NCAA contracts with the MWC, CAA, and Ivy League? If I were NBC Sports Radio network, I would be working on buying out the MWC Radio Network contract. I would then produce the radio broadcasts for every game in the CAA and MWC men's basketball tournaments and do the women's championship games to. They have the exclusive TV rights already, and Dial Global has the men's basketball Championship game rights. Expand it further. It also allows you to gain ground on groups like ESPN Radio (Big 12 & ACC) and Compass Media Networks (Big 10). Ironically the Pac-12 and SEC have their rights with Dial Global. How about during football and basketball season? Honestly, in order to get a step above the radio competition on Saturday, how about simulcasting your Ivy League, CAA, and MWC games of the week on NBC Sports Radio Network? Or if you can't do that, how about buying out a group that has struggled to get radio affiliates, like Touchdown Radio Productions, and having them produce a game of the week?

I truly believe NBC Sports Radio Network has the talent to proceed within staff already. Many Comcast Regional Network hosts have their own community shows already. It won't be that hard to transition them to the national stage. However you need additional content to pull people away from Fox Sports Radio and Yahoo! Radio. Play-by-play for sports may very well be the key. We have already seen the Angels enter into a baseball contract for a Game-of-the-Week on Compass Media though most weeks it's two games). Let NBC Sports Radio Network do the same. Enter into a contract with a team already within house (like the Cubs) that will get national attention and do one or two games of the week during baseball. Get rights to do additional Golf coverage (currently The US Open is done by ESPN Radio and The Masters by Dial Global Sports, but those are the only golf championships on the radio, and NBC has rights in Golf Network giving them rights to cover every golf event). Give people a reason to turn away from the shows they are familiar with and have a new home to fall in love with.

NBC Sports Radio Network will be broadcast online at NBCSports.com and at dialglobalsports.com with the shows and hourly updates. Play-by-play coverage could also be streamed online if a league contract, like NFL and MLB, doesn't prohibit it. Golf, NCAA Football and Basketball, and the NHL could all find themselves with a new radio home to prosper within.

More info can be found in the Press Release at http://dialglobalsports.com/2012/06/nbc-sports-group-and-dial-global-partner-to-form-the-nbc-sports-radio-network/.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Dial Global will produce 15 regular season telecasts and 3 post-season college tilts for the 2012 season. Perhaps the most surprising move is that they didn't pick up a USC road game. Even more surprising is that the early schedule only lists 1 game a week whereas they've had 2 games a week for the past 4 years, and the most shocking development of all is the Cotton Bowl is now gone from Dial Global's broadcast schedule. Most times are still TBA. Below is the schedule announced by Dial Global for 2012.

September 1:
6:30 PM- Auburn vs. Clemson

September 3:
7:30 PM- Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech

September 8:
TBA- Washington at LSU

September 15:
TBA- Alabama at Arkansas

September 22:
TBA- Clemson at Florida State

September 29:
TBA- Ohio State at Michigan State
7:30 PM- Wisconsin at Nebraska

Dial Global is the last if the 3 networks to release their afternoon doubleheader schedule, but it certainly doesn't appear to be lacking any type of quality. Here is the schedule for the first 7 weeks of the season.

About Me

I am a graduate from BYU-Idaho with a communications degree. Currently I work as a freelance reporter for MRT and Texas Redzone Report. I also supply the national radio CFB information to College Pressbox. I use this blog, and a few other things, to keep my resources sharp and to provide quality information I feel others will enjoy.